Giles Milton

Who is Giles Milton?

Giles Milton is a writer who specialises in the history of exploration. His books have been published in seventeen languages worldwide and are international best-sellers. He has written eight works of non-fiction, two comic novels and two books for young children.

He is best known for his 1999 best-selling title, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, a historical account of the violent struggle between the English and Dutch for control of the world supply of nutmeg in the early 17th century. The book was serialised by BBC Radio 4. Nathaniel's Nutmeg was followed by Big Chief Elizabeth, Samurai William and White Gold, books of narrative non-fiction that took as their subject matter the pioneering English adventurers in Asia, North Africa and the New World, and then by his 2008, Paradise Lost, Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance, which investigated the bloody sacking of Smyrna in September 1922, and the subsequent expulsion of 1,300,000 Orthodox Greeks from Turkey and 350,000 Muslims from Greece. His latest book, Russian Roulette: How British Spies Thwarted Lenin's Global Plot was published in the summer of 2013.

Milton is the author of a weekly history blog that focuses on forgotten characters from the past.